UPDATE | The entry-level MX110 and MX130 GPU product pages appear on Nvidia's website
UPDATE: After publishing this article originally claiming that the MX130 was based on the GT 940MX, we had a second source claiming that the MX130 was actually based on the Nvidia 930MX. The article was edited to reflect this. However, we are reversing those changes because today Nvidia clarified with us that the MX130 is definitely based on the GT 940MX. The 940MX has a higher core speed, faster memory, and support for a higher maximum graphics RAM.
There has been a steady release of new cards from Nvidia over the last few months, with the GTX 1070 Ti in the desktop space, along with the MX150, GTX 1060 Max-Q, and GTX 1070 Max-Q in the mobile arena. However, with the MX150 being the replacement for the older 940MX, there was a space at the bottom of the line up with nothing to replace the 910M, 920MX, or 930MX.
In October there were leaks and rumors of a planned MX110 and MX130, and a comparison page between these and the MX150 was set up here. Unfortunately, these two new cards aren’t based on the Pascal (GP108) architecture like the MX150 but are instead using the older Maxwell (GM108) design. Now that Nvidia has listed them as Maxwell cards on their website, it all but confirms the rumor that these are rebranded 920MX (MX110) and 940MX (MX130) [Nvidia has now confirmed with us that the MX130 is based on the 940MX - Ed.].
This is likely a tactic to escape designing a new product for the low-end while also reducing the likelihood of customers avoiding certain notebooks because they don’t want a GPU with a previous-generation product name. Rebranding is a reasonably common practice in parts of a product lineup where the profit margins are too thin to justify a new design, and the Maxwell based 940MX was still suitably handling the entry-level market, so we can understand Nvidia’s decision here.
Nvidia gives a performance score of ‘up to 1.5x’ for the MX110, and ‘up to 2.5x’ for the MX130, compared to ‘up to 4.0x’ for the MX150. The baseline 1.0x measurement is calculated from the Intel UHD620 integrated graphics, so these new cards won't be suitable for anything more than light gaming on older titles, but they would still allow for GPU acceleration. We expect these products to be available in early 2018.
| Nvidia MX110 (Rumored) | Nvidia MX130 (Rumored) | Nvidia MX150 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Maxwell | Maxwell | Pascal |
| Shader Cores | 256 | 384 | 384 |
| Core Speed | 965 - 993 MHz | 1123 - 1242 MHz | 1468 - 1532 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 1800 MHz | 4000 MHz | 6000 MHz |
| Memory Bus | 64-bit | 64-bit | 64-bit |
| Memory Type | DDR3 or GDDR5 | DDR3 or GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Multimedia API | DirectX 12 OpenGL 4.5 | DirectX 12 OpenGL 4.5 | DirectX 12.1 OpenGL 4.5 Vulkan |
| Process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 14 nm |
Source(s)
